ai4bharat/Pralekha huggingface dataset:
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Update on COVID-19 Vaccine Availability in States/UTs
More than 139 Crore vaccine doses provided to States/UTs
More than 19.19 Crore balance and unutilized vaccine doses still available with States/UTs
The Union Government is committed to accelerating the pace and expanding the scope of COVID-19 vaccination throughout the country. The nationwide COVID 19 vaccination started on 16th January 2021. The new phase of universalization of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from 21st June 2021. The vaccination drive has been ramped up through availability of more vaccines, advance visibility of vaccine availability to States and UTs for enabling better planning by them, and streamlining the vaccine supply chain.
As part of the nationwide vaccination drive, Government of India has been supporting the States and UTs by providing them COVID Vaccines free of cost. In the new phase of the universalization of the COVID19 vaccination drive, the Union Government will procure and supply  75% of the vaccines being produced by the vaccinemanufacturers in the country to States and UTs.
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VACCINE DOSES
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|

|
|
SUPPLIED
|
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1,39,51,88,670
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BALANCE AVAILABLE
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19,19,03,551
More than 139 crore  vaccine doses have been provided to States/UTs so far through Govt of India  and through direct state procurement category.
More than19.19 Cr  balance and unutilized COVID Vaccine doses are still available with the States/UTs to be administered.
Ministry of Science & Technology
CSIR, Unnat Bharat Abhiyan-IIT Delhi and Vijnana Bharati sign a tripartite MoU
MoU aims at adoption of CSIR technologies for rural development
Dr. Shekhar Mande: “Collaborations important in taking CSIR technologies to the people across the length and breadth of the country”.
A Memorandum of Understanding  has been signed between, Unnat Bharat Abhiyan-Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi  and Vijnana Bharti , New Delhi. The MoU is to provide access to CSIR rural technologies for UBA and is expected to lay the foundation for cooperation and joint action in the area of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan  for rural development of India. This will pave the way for the adoption of CSIR technologies and related knowledge base in tune with the people’s aspirations in furtherance of initiatives such as UBA and Vijnana Bharati . The Unnat Bharat Abhiyan  is a flagship national program of the Ministry of Human Resource Development , Government of India, envisioning the transformational change in rural development processes by leveraging knowledge institutions to help build the architecture of an inclusive India.
An adequate structural network is an essential prerequisite for effective nationwide implementation of UBA. Also essential is to achieve synergy in collaboration among the concerned ministries, district administration, local Panchayat Raj Institutes , voluntary organizations, other stakeholders, and participating institutions in Unnat Bharat Abhiyan. This MoU would enable CSIR- UBA, IITD-VIBHA to work jointly towards achieving these objectives.
The MoU was signed in the presence of Dr. Shekhar Mande DG CSIR & Secretary DSIR; Prof. Ranjana Aggarwal, Director CSIR-NISTADS; Professor Virendra Kumar Vijay, National Coordinator, Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, and Professor,Centre for Rural Development and Technology , IIT Delhi; Dr. Sunil. K. Khare, Dean, CRDT, IIT Delhi; Professor Vivek Kumar and Dr Priyanka Kaushal, CRDT, IIT Delhi. Shri Jayant Jahasrabudhe and Shri Praveen Ramdas from VIBHA, New Delhi; were also present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Shekhar Mande, emphasized that CSIR has a rich tradition of developing various technologies and products and collaborations with various stakeholders is important in taking CSIR technologies to the people across the length and breadth of the country and that this MoU is an important step in this direction.
Prof. Ranjana Aggarwal expressed the hope that the MoU will pave the way for effective coordination between CSIR, IIT Delhi, and Vijnana Bharti  towards meeting the objectives of the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan.
Sh. Virendra Kumar Vijay described how the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan has now become a national level program since its start in 2014 and talked about a large number of institutions that have become associated with it in a short period. Dr Khare spoke of the association between CSIR and IIT Delhi and how two institutions can further contribute to the development of the country through their increased cooperation. Sh. Sahasrabudhe expressed his optimism about the contribution of the MoU towards taking the benefits of science to society.
Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers
Steps taken by the Government to promote domestic manufacturing of Medicines for Rare Genetic Disorders
In order to make the country Atmanirbhar in pharmaceuticals, the Department of Pharmaceuticals is implementing the Production Linked Incentive  Scheme for Pharmaceuticals with total financial outlay of Rs. 15,000 crore and tenure from FY 2020-2021 to FY 2028-29. The scheme covers pharmaceutical goods under three different categories. One of the product segment under the Category-1 is Orphan drugs, including those used for treatment of rare diseases. The scheme provides for incentives, based on their incremental sales for 6 years.
The information was given by the Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Shri Mansukh Mandaviya in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
COVID - 19 Vaccination Update - Day 361
India’s cumulative vaccination coverage crosses 153.70 crore
More than 76 lakh Vaccine doses administered today till 7 pm
India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has crossed 153.70 Crore  today. More than 76 lakh  Vaccine Doses have been administered till 7 pm today. More than 18 lakh  Precaution Doses for the identified categories of beneficiaries for COVID vaccination have been administered so far. The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late tonight.
The cumulative coverage of vaccine doses, segregated based on population priority groups, is as follows:
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Cumulative Vaccine Dose Coverage
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HCWs
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|
1st Dose
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|
10389382
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2nd Dose
|
|
9755924
|
|
Precaution Dose
|
|
900696
|
|
FLWs
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
18387875
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
17000119
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|
Precaution Dose
|
|
481687
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|
Age Group 15-18 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
28100780
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|
Age Group 18-44 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
518073243
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
357683795
|
|
Age Group 45-59 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
196579842
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
157742357
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|
Over 60 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
122527691
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
98951038
|
|
Precaution Dose
|
|
470228
|
|
Cumulative 1st dose administered
|
|
894058813
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|
Cumulative 2nd dose administered
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|
641133233
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|
Precaution Dose
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1852611
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Total
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1537044657
Today’s achievement in the vaccination exercise, segregated by population priority groups, is as follows:
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Date: 11th January, 2022 
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HCWs
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1st Dose
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|
209
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
5886
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|
Precaution Dose
|
|
370452
|
|
FLWs
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
331
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
11839
|
|
Precaution Dose
|
|
275235
|
|
Age Group 15-18 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
1777021
|
|
Age Group 18-44 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
1497487
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
2299885
|
|
Age Group 45-59 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
165367
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
638225
|
|
Over 60 years
|
|
1st Dose
|
|
91609
|
|
2nd Dose
|
|
332543
|
|
Precaution Dose
|
|
202193
|
|
Cumulative 1st dose administered
|
|
3532024
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|
Cumulative 2nd dose administered
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|
3288378
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|
Precaution Dose
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|
847880
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|
Total
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7668282
The vaccination exercise as a tool to protect the most vulnerable population groups in the country from COVID-19 continues to be regularly reviewed and monitored at the highest level.
Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas
Petroleum Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan and the New US Secretary of Energy H.E. Jennifer Granholm agreed to Revamp India-US Strategic Energy Partnership
Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas &Steel Shri Dharmendra Pradhan today held an introductory meeting virtually with US Secretary of Energy H.E. Jennifer Granholm. Minister Pradhan congratulated Secretary Granholm on assuming the high office and reviewed the India-US Strategic Energy Cooperation . Both leaders agreed to revamp the India-US SEP to reflect the new priorities of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden with focus on promoting clean energy with low-carbon pathways and accelerating green energy cooperation.
They agreed to prioritise greater collaboration in cleaner energy sector- biofuels, CCUS, hydrogen production and carbon sequestration through technology exchange, joint R&D through Partnership to Advance Clean Energy Research , among other initiatives.
Both sides agreed to convene the third meeting of a revamped India-US Strategic Energy Partnership at an early date. They decided to intensify the efforts to take advantage of the complementarities of both the countries -advanced US technologies and rapidly growing India’s energy market, for a win-win situation through a cleaner energy route with low carbon pathways.
H.E Jennifer Granholm assumed the post of US Secretary of Energy in February 2021.
Prime Minister's Office
PM inaugurates Bahadurgarh-Mundka Metro Line via video conference
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today inaugurated the Bahadurgarh-Mundka Metro Line via video conference.
Congratulating the people of Haryana and Delhi on the commencement of this new section of the Delhi Metro, he said he was happy to see Bahadurgarh connected with the Delhi Metro.
This is the third place in Haryana, after Gurugram and Faridabad to be connected like this.
The Prime Minister spoke of how the Metro in Delhi has positively impacted the lives of citizens. Noting that Bahadurgarh is witnessing tremendous economic growth, the Prime Minister said that there are several educational centres there, and students from there even travel to Delhi. The Metro will make this more convenient, he added.
Shri Narendra Modi said that there is a direct link between connectivity and development. He said the Metro will mean more employment opportunities for the people in the area.
The Prime Minister said that the Union Government has brought out a policy relating to Metros, to bring uniformity and standardization in metro rail networks across the country. He said the objective is to build convenient, comfortable and affordable urban transport systems in our cities. He said that the aim is also to boost “Make in India” by making metro rail coaches in India itself.
The Prime Minister said that the process of making Metro systems is also linked to cooperative federalism. Wherever Metros are being built in India, the Centre and the respective State Governments are working together, he added.
Noting that New India requires new and smart infrastructure, the Prime Minister said that the Union Government is working on roads, railways, highways, airways, waterways and i-ways. There is focus on connectivity and on ensuring that development projects are completed on time, he added.
Special Service and Features
People should travel abroad for work only through authorised agents - Protectors of Immigrants
A Walkathon was organised today on the theme 'Thiraikadal Odiyum Thiraviam Thedu - Padhukappaga' at the Elliots Beach, Beasant Nagar. The Walkathon was flagged off by Greater Chennai Police Commissioner Shankar Jiwal.
Speaking at the event, Jiwal said that people travelling to foreign countries for work should be safe and travel only with the help of government authorised agents.
Speaking on the occasion, the Protectors of Immigrants M Venkatachalam said that only those who travel abroad with proper documents can be helped by the Indian Embassy.
He also mentioned that the Protectors of Immigrants in Delhi and Tamilnadu will be able to help only those who travel through authorised agents.
"Protectors of Immigrants cannot directly help those who travel through unauthorised agents. Such issues will be investigated with the help of police and court," he added.
Venkatachalam said that on an average more than 30 cases are being investigated in Tamilnadu on a daily basis.
"This walkathon is organised to create awareness about these rules and regulations among those who are planning to travel abroad for work, “he said.
The list of the authorised agents can be viewed at the www.emigrate.gov.in website.
Employees State Insurance Corporation director Rajamoorthy said that they have been issuing authorised medical certificates of the countries to where people are travelling.
Press Information Bureau Chennai director B Gurubabu, authorised agents, Beasant Nagar Walkers association members and public took part in the walkathon.
Ministry of Education
Promotion of technical education
Government endeavoured promotion of technical education across the country by establishing various Institutes of National Importance that includes 23 Indian Institutes of Technology , 25 India Institutes of Information Technology , 31 National Institutes of Technology , 1 Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology , Shibpur, 1 Indian Institute of Science , 4 National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research  ,7 Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research  etc.
For ensuring high standards of teaching in professional technical education, All India Council of Technical Education  has been established by the Government as a statutory autonomous body for regulating and guiding the engineering colleges /technical institutes in Government and Private Sphere. To enhance the level of professional technical education in the country, AICTE is implementing a number of initiatives such as  preparation of outcome based model curriculum and mandatory internship  exam reforms to assess the learning outcomes  perspective plan to encourage new and emerging fields with high employment potential  teachers training for enhancing core skills  industry readiness cell in each institute and mandatory signing of at least five  MoUs with Industry  accreditation of courses to improve quality education  start-up initiatives  Smart India Hackathon to encourage innovations  mandatory induction programme for students / career counselling etc.
Further, various schemes such as Prime Minister Research Fellowship , Uchchatar Avishkar Yojana , Start-up India Initiative for Higher Education Institutions , Impacting Research Innovation and Technology , Impactful Policy Research in Social Science , Scheme for Trans-Disciplinary Research for India’s Developing Economy , Global Initiative of Academic Network , Scheme for promotion of Research and Academic Collaboration , National Initiative for Design Innovation , Scheme for Transformational and Advanced Research in Sciences  etc. are implemented in the Ministry of Education for promotion of technical education and research ecosystem in Higher Education Institutes.
The information was given by the Minister of State for Education, Dr. Subhas Sarkar in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.
Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways
The Major Ports at Paradip, Ennore and Tuticorinto Pioneer recycling & Desalination of sea water
Desalination Plant will meet potable water needs of ports and neighboring community: Shri Nitin Gadkari
Paradip Port, Kamarajar Port & VO Chidambarnar Portunder the Ministry of Shipping are all set to pioneer water recycling and desalination of sea water in the port premises. The Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport & Highways, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Shri Nitin Gadkari, chaired a meeting of port chairmen recently to discuss desalination technologies and their application at major ports, and directed that desalination plants should be installed with immediate effect. The initiative would benefit areas near the ports like Thoothukudi near Tuticorin, where a 13 million litreper day plant will be able to serve 20% of Tuticorin city’s requirement after port utilization. It will also help serve the water needs of the entire Chennai Port and 1% of the city’s requirement at lower costs. This initiative is in line with the Ministry’s agenda to promote water conservation and reuse of water.
During the meeting the idea was mooted for use of new technology based containerized RO  based plants which can reduce the cost of producing desalinated water and would be cheaper than current water procurement cost at certain ports. Shri Gadkari directed all ports to install desalination plants immediately.
While addressing the meeting Shri Gadkari said that the desalination plant at portsshould be used for meeting the potable water needs of ports as well as the neighboring community. Shri Gadkari also said that efforts should be made to extract methane, carbon dioxide and bio-CNG from water. He has also directed port chairmen to explore feasibility about using treated sewage water for cleaning rail coaches at different railway stations, and nearby power plants.
The issue of power cost contribution to overall desalination cost was analyzed. Shri gadkarisuggested that cheaper power sourcing options like renewable energy through windmills and solar farms should be explored. This willhelp bring down the cost of producing desalinated water by about 20%.Desalination benefit may vary from port to port depending on municipal water purchase price and energy tariffs.
Ministry of Science & Technology
Decline in Arctic sea ice does not sound good for the environment, warns NCPOR
TheNationalCentreofPolarandOceanResearch has foundadramaticdeclinein the Arcticseaice due to globalwarming.Thedeclineofseaicehasledtolocalized increase in evaporation, air humidity, cloud cover, and rainfall. Arctic sea ice is a sensitive indicator of climate change and has strong retaliatory effects on other components of the climatesystem.
In its observations, NCPOR has noted that the largest decline in Arctic sea ice in the past 41 years happened in July 2019. In the last 40 years , the sea ice has been declining at a rate of ‘-4.7%’ per decade, while its rate was found to be ‘-13%’ in July 2019. If this trend continues, there would be no ice left in the Arctic sea by 2050, which would be dangerous for humanity and the entire environment.
With the help of satellite data collected from 1979 to 2019, NCPOR has tried to understand the rate of surface warming and the changes in global atmospheric circulation.The study has also pointed out thatthedecreaseoftheArcticseaiceareaand the increase in the duration of summer and autumn seasons have affected the local weather and climate over the Arctic Ocean and its marginal seas. Being a sensitive indicator of climate change, the loss of ice cover in the Arctic sea has had strong feedback effects on other components of the climate system such as prevention or reduction of heat and momentum, water vapour, and other material exchange between the atmosphere and the sea. The worrying element to note is that the volume of ice formation during winters is unable to keep pace with the volume of ice loss duringsummers.
“In the background of the global warming scenario, the study reveals that global ocean-atmospheric warming has enhanced the Arctic sea ice loss. The study demonstrated the application of satellite observations and model reanalysis data for the determinationandvalidation;the2019sea-iceextenttiedtothesecond-lowestsea-ice minimum record. Although there are no extreme weather events recorded this year, an accelerated decline in sea-ice extent and sea-ice volume in summer 2019 was dominant, and also the northern hemisphere has experienced record high-temperature riseespeciallyduringthespringandsummermonths,” Dr AvinashKumar,aseniorscientist at NCPOR, who is involved in the research,said.
“The sea-ice loss at this rate, concerning to all the lives on Earth, can have a catastrophic impact due to rising global air temperature and slowing down of global ocean water circulation,” he added. Led by Dr Avinash Kumar, the research team comprised Juhi YadavandRahulMohanofNCPOR,MinistryofEarthSciences,Goa.Theresearchpaper has been published in the Journal of Natural Hazards.
Ministry of Education
India and the UK sign MoU on Mutual Recognition of Academic Qualification to facilitate student mobility and academic collaboration between HEIs
A Memorandum of Understanding  on Mutual Recognition of Academic Qualifications was signed today between Mr. James Bowler, Permanent Secretary, Department of International Trade of United Kingdom  and Mr. K Sanjay Murthy, Secretary , Ministry of Education, Government of India.
In May 2021, during the Virtual Summit between Prime Ministers of India and UK, a comprehensive Roadmap to 2030 was adopted for an enhanced bilateral cooperation between the two countries. Both sides also agreed to a new Enhanced Trade Partnership. Education forms an important pillar of this roadmap. In light of India’s National Education Policy 2020 , the two sides agreed to expand educational by agreeing to a mutual recognition of academic qualifications.
This is a landmark moment in our bilateral educational relations as signing of this MoU would enable smoother student mobility between the two countries and help in developing stronger institutional collaboration and widen the scope of academic and research collaboration between the Higher Education Institutions of both countries.
Government of India is taking several steps to allow greater international collaboration with countries abroad to facilitate Internationalization of education, which is one of the key areas of focus under the NEP 2020.